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Hank & Carol Fischer
Nathan Varley & Linda Thurston

HANK FISCHER
has been roaming the mountains,
rivers and prairies of Montana for nearly thirty years.
When he wasn’t fighting for the return of wolves to
Yellowstone
or developing a unique
plan to restore grizzly bears to central Idaho, he was searching
out the best places in the Northern Rockies to watch wildlife
and catch trout. A respected advocate for grizzlies,
wolves and many other endangered species (Hank was Defenders of
Wildlife’s Northern Rockies director for 25 years), he knows where
these animals live. With him as your guide, you’ll view
wildlife in their natural settings, an awe-inspiring and
unforgettable experience. As you relax in the evening, Hank
will recount for you -- with a healthy dose of wit, humor and
pragmatism – the inside story of what it took to restore wolves to
the world’s most famous national park.
When
not pursuing his work with large predators (he currently works for
the National Wildlife Federation), Hank loves tennis,
snowboarding, floating rivers, rock and roll trivia, his wife
Carol and his two boys!
Among his
achievements, Hank:
◊
originated Defenders of Wildlife’s
wolf and grizzly bear compensation programs, for which he received
the prestigious Edward Lowe Foundation Enviro-Capitalist Award as
well as the National Resources Council of America’s Award of
Achievement.
◊
was a leader in the ten-year effort to restore wolves to
Yellowstone. Hank chronicled this watershed conservation event in
his book, Wolf Wars: The Remarkable Inside Story of
the Restoration of Wolves to Yellowstone Park.

◊
led the creation of statewide
wildlife viewing systems for Montana and Idaho,
and is co-author of the Montana
Wildlife
Viewing Guide. He has floated
nearly every river in Montana and is co-author of
Paddling Montana.
◊
has written over a hundred articles for natural resource
publications and served as a regular commentator on Montana Public
Radio for
over a decade. Hank received an MS in Environmental Studies
from the University of Montana, where he focused on wildlife
biology and journalism. He has won numerous national
conservation awards.
CAROL FISCHER
received an
M.S. in Recreation Resource Management from the University of
Montana. She is
co-author, along with husband Hank, of Paddling Montana and
the Montana Wildlife Viewing Guide. She grew
up in Montana and
knows
almost every inch of the state, having floated most of its rivers
and traveled to its
far corners looking for unique wildlife viewing sites to place in
the Montana Wildlife Viewing Guide.
Carol has been a flyfishing guide and
active mom. She has been on the boards of the Montana Natural
History Center, Rock Creek Advisory Council and Missoula City and
County Parks. Carol’s
other interests include golf, skiing, hiking, woodworking and
cooking.
Nathan
Varley
has been living in Yellowstone for most of his life and works with
wolves and other wildlife species. As a professional wildlife
guide, Nathan has been leading people through Yellowstone for
exceptional wildlife sightings and to share many of his favorite
spots for over a decade. He currently guides groups of all sizes
and ages and maintains a wildlife
ecology research program in partnership with the park and several
universities. He and his wife, Linda, have formed their own
wildlife travel company,
The
WildSide.
Linda
Thurston
has worked with wolves in the Rocky Mountains for much of her
career as a wildlife biologist. She has done conservation work
for agencies including the National Park Service in Yellowstone
and Idaho Fish and Game in the Clearwater region of Idaho. She
worked on a wolf research project in Banff National Park, Alberta,
for the University of Alberta. Currently she works for Defenders
of Wildlife on programs that aim to solve chronic problems of wolf
predation on domestic livestock in Montana. She also guides many
people to see wolves in Yellowstone each year and shares her
extensive experience in field courses for the Yellowstone
Association Institute and other non-profit organizations.
To contact us, please
email
editor@wolftracker.com
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